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Mummies/Transcript
Transcript An animation shows a boy, Tim, and his robot friend, Moby. They are walking around an Ancient Egypt exhibit, dressed as museum guards. The museum is closed. It's dark and they both have flashlights. TIM: I can't believe you convinced me to intern with you at this creepy old museum. TIM: What's that?! MOBY: Beep. TIM: There's no wind in here. Tim reads from a typed letter. TIM: Dear Tim and Moby, How did Egyptians make mummies? From, Horus. Well, why don’t we show you? Moby? An animation shows Moby entering the text "1500 BCE" on his wrist time machine. The scene changes as Tim and Moby are transported to Ancient Egypt. The animation shows Tim in a torch-lit room decorated with hieroglyphics. Moby is carried in and laid down, face-up on a table. TIM: Um, is he… Moby opens one eye. TIM: Ah, okay then. The Egyptians believed that after a person died, their spirit, or ka, faced a series of trials. An animation shows a glowing image of Moby's spirit lift out of his body. TIM: They had to travel through the Duat, the land of the dead, to reach the afterlife. The Duat was filled with dense forests, lakes of fire, and demons. An animation shows Moby's spirit glide down into a forest with red rivers. Mysterious eyes watch from the darkness. TIM: Your spirit had to pass through twelve gates. Each one was guarded by a different demon or monster. An animation shows Moby's spirit approaching a gate guarded by serpents. TIM: To get past them, you had to say a magic spell that included the demon's secret name. An animation shows a scroll appear above Moby's spirit and unfurl, revealing instructions in hieroglyphics. The serpents disappear in a cloud of smoke and the gate opens. TIM: After the twelve trials, your soul faced its final judgment before the major gods. An animation shows Moby reaching the Hall of Judgement. A green-skinned god sits on a throne and oversees the ceremony. TIM: This was the ritual known as the Weighing of the Heart. The heart was set on a scale, opposite a single feather of Ma'at, goddess of truth and justice. An animation shows a giant scale in front of Moby. The goddess Ma'at is above the scale, her feathered wings extended. TIM: If you lived a good life your heart would be light... while bad deeds made the heart heavy. The animation shows the scale going up and down. TIM: If the heart was heavier than the feather, it would be devoured. Your soul would remain in the Duat forever. An animation shows the scale stopping with the heart below the feather. A god eats the heart. Moby's spirit drops down through a trap door in the floor and back into the forest of the Duat. TIM: But if it was light, the soul could enter Aaru, or paradise. The animation changes to show the Weighing of the Heart again. This time, the scale settles with Moby's heart lighter than the feather. TIM: It would be reunited with its body, to enjoy the afterlife. An animation shows Moby's physical body appear. It merges with the image of his spirit. TIM: You'd meet up with loved ones, and there was no more pain or suffering. It was like a perfect version of Egypt, with lush vegetation and flowing rivers. The animation changes to show Moby in a beautiful field of reeds. Tim is there, too. They run toward each other and embrace. MOBY: Beep? TIM: Uh, yeah, there's just one little hitch. Your soul had to complete the journey through Duat before your body decomposed. An image shows each step of the spirit's journey in the afterlife. An hourglass alongside it shows grains of sand falling. TIM: That's why the Egyptians developed a process called mummification. It was a way to preserve the body, and buy the soul some time on its journey through Duat. An image shows tiles of each step of the mummification process. TIM: Only special priests could mummify a body. They had to know the right rituals and prayers that went with each step of the process. An image shows a priest standing over the body with his arms lifted. TIM: The first step was to wash and purify the body, rubbing it with sacred oils. An image shows a body being washed by two priests. TIM: This would make the body smell nice… or at least cover up the smell of decay a bit. MOBY: Beep! The animation changes to show Moby giggling as one of the Egyptian priests washes him with a rag. The other sprays Moby with oil from a pink perfume bottle. TIM: Tickles, huh? Well, this next part won't. A special hook was inserted through the nose to pull out the brain. The animation changes to show a hook entering a man's skull through the nostrils. A small chunk comes out of his nose. TIM: This was a tricky operation--one false move, and you could damage the face. Then the soul might not recognize the body, and they couldn't reunify to enter Aaru. An image shows a man's spirit looking at a mummified body, unsure if he recognizes it as his own. MOBY: Beep! An animation shows one of the Egyptians trying to jam the brain hook into Moby's "nose," finding nothing there but metal. The other is looking into his "ear," hoping to get to his brain that way. TIM: Ah, don't worry, I'm sure they'll give up soon. Next up, the priests made a cut in the left side of the body. They pulled out the internal organs through here. An image shows one priest holding an organ and another holding a bowl of water. TIM: These were preserved separately and stored in jars buried with the body. An image shows jars above the body. They become transparent to show the organs inside them. TIM: All except the heart—the soul would need it for its final challenge in Duat. An animation shows one of the priests prying open Moby's chest plate with their tools. It opens up and the two priests peer inside. Seeing that there are no organs in Moby’s body, they shrug. TIM: Removing the internal organs prepared the body for the next step: getting filled and covered with natron. An image shows a stone bowl filled with a pile of white powder. TIM: That's a kind of salt found in dried-up Egyptian lake beds. Like table salt, it’s a preservative: It prevents decay, mainly by killing germs and drying things up. Hundreds of pounds of natron were needed to do the job. An animation shows a giant jar of natron being dumped over Moby's body. TIM: Once the body was covered, it was left out in the desert for 40 days. An animation shows the two priests pushing Moby's body out of the room. A clock ticks and time passes. The animation changes to show Tim still in the room, playing a handheld video game. The priests push Moby's body back in the room. TIM: Oh hey, how was the desert? Moby glares at Tim. MOBY: Beep! TIM: Yeah, thanks for your patience. After forty days in the desert, the body would be completely dried out. The priests would clean all the natron off… An image shows the priests brushing natron off the body. TIM: Stuff the body with linen or sand to help keep a lifelike shape… An image shows the priests stuffing linen into the body's mouth. TIM: Add some herbs to keep that new-mummy smell... An image shows a bundle of herbs. TIM: Plus coat it in sweet-smelling tree resin, which also kept out moisture. An image shows two priests painting the body with resin using a brush. TIM: Finally, the mummy was given some makeup to make it look as lifelike as possible. The animation changes to show the priests giving Moby a makeover. One is applying pink powder to Moby's cheeks. MOBY: Beep. An animation shows Moby bat his eyelashes. TIM: This part of the process took another 30 days. At that point, the body was mummified, and it was time to dress it. The priests carefully wrapped it in linen bandages. Including individual wraps for fingers and toes. An animation shows the body being wrapped in linen. TIM: Amulets, magic charms to ward off evil, were tucked in specific places. An animation shows the priest placing a beetle amulet over the mummy's heart, tucking it into the linen. TIM: And a scroll now known as the Book of the Dead was placed in its hands. A scroll is placed between the mummy's bandage-wrapped hands. TIM: It contained spells to help the soul cross Duat. An image shows some of the scroll's contents in hieroglyphics. TIM: A lifelike death mask was fitted over the the face. An animation shows a death mask being put on over the mummy. TIM: And the mummy was placed in an elaborately decorated coffin. An animation shows an elaborate, Egyptian coffin enclosing the mummy. TIM: Or a series of them, for rich people and royalty. An animation shows two more coffins enclosing the first. TIM: Then the whole thing went into a sarcophagus, a big stone burial box. An animation shows the coffins dropping into a sarcophagus. TIM: Which, for pharaohs--Egyptian kings and queens--might be housed in a pyramid. An animation shows a giant pyramid slamming down on the whole scene. TIM: Just a tasteful little memorial to see you off into the afterlife. MOBY: Beep? An image shows Moby upright in the bottom half of a coffin, wrapped in bandages. TIM: The whole process took 70 days, and was extremely expensive. Only the super-wealthy could afford it. Regular folks who wanted a chance to reach Aaru used natural mummification. Their bodies were wrapped in old linens and buried in the desert. An animation shows a family with a body wrapped in brown linens. They lower the body into a hole dug in the desert. TIM: The hot, dry air did a pretty good job of preserving the remains. In fact, some are better preserved than the fancy mummies of the rich! An image shows that Moby's casket is now empty! Tim looks around. TIM: Uh, Moby? An animation shows Moby lumbering toward Tim down one of the torch-lit hallways. TIM: Yeah, I’m not actually scared. MOBY: Beep. An animation shows Moby looking deflated. TIM: Oh…sigh, aaah, mummy… help. Aaa. Category:BrainPOP Transcripts Category:BrainPOP Social Studies Transcripts